Grapple.



P. RASM'USSEN. GRAPPLB;

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8, 1900. RENEWED SEPT. 27,1902.

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UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE.

PETER RASMUSSEN, OF IRON MOUNTAIN ,'MIGHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- THIRD TO JOHN RUSSELL, OF IRON MOUNTAIN, MICHIGAN.

'GRAPPLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 726,826, dated April 28, 1903.

Application filed September 8, 1900. Renewed September 27, 1902. Serial No. 126,056. (Nb model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER RASMUSSEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Iron Mountain, in the county of Dickinson and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grapples; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has especial reference to devices for the rescue of people in danger of drowning; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts,

as will be fully set forth hereinafter in con-v nection with the accompanying drawings, and subsequently claimed.

In said drawings, Figure l is aside elevation of my improved device, parts being broken away or in section to better illustrate certain details of construction. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the lower part of said device, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of my said device with one of the hook-stems partly broken away.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A rep:

resents a stationary head-piece of, metal of preferably conical form, having a central ver-' tical bore therethrough for the reception of the hereinafter-described doubled hook-stems B B and O C, which are made fast to the head-piece A. These hook-stems are made from pieces of round steel wire doubled and placed against each other, as best shown by the sectional View thereof in Fig. 2. The lower or free ends of these pieces of steel wire are bent outward or away from. each other, as shown at b b c c, and inclined first downwardlyand then u pwardly,the upwardlyextending ends being flattened and pointed to form the hooks D D E E, while the upper bend of the doubled hook-stems B B is expanded out to form an eye F above the head A, and the upper bend G of the doubled hook-stems O C is secured to the apex-of the conical head A in line with'the base of the eye F andat right angles thereto. The preferable way of securing the head and hookstems together is to place the said stems (after they have been shaped, bent, and sharpcried, as described) together, as shown, and

then to cast the head A about them.-

H represents a metallic collar which is similarly preferably cast about, and thus secured to, the described hook-stems B B C 0' when the latter are in position. The upper surface of this collaris formed with a series of edge grooves or slots corresponding in number to the hooks and :here marked 61 d c 6. These grooves or slots extend through the top of the collar, as well asout through the edge thereof, and are in line with communicating, preferably round, mortises ff, which extend inwardly toward the center of the collar beyond the-line of the vertical inner walls of the described grooves or slots.

I I J J represent spring-fenders, preferably made of steel, the upper ends of these fenders being secured, as by screws g g, to the exterior surface of the head A, which latter is preferably recessed, as shown, so that the outer surfaces of said upper ends of the fenders and of said head may be flush, the heads of said screws g g being countersunk in the fenders and head forlike purpose. The lower ends of these fenders are integrally formed with guards i 'i for engagement with the innersurfaces of the described hooks D D E E and with inwardly-projecting guide-pins jj, which engage with the described grooves or slots and their communicating mortises, the tendency of the spring-fenders being outward, so that their guards will always normally be in contact with the described hooks, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The device may be made of any size, weight, or proportions desired; but a very effective device may be constructed to weigh less than a pound and only a little larger than the size indicated by the present drawings, which represent a device about four inches in length with an extreme width at line of greatest diameter of about two and a half inches, al-

though the device may of course greatly exsired length attached to the eye F, and if the device is designed to be carried by a boat a line of about one hundred feet would answer ordinarily, one end of said line being attached to the boat and the other end to said eye.

The operation of my device will be readily understood from the foregoing description of its construction, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. Suppose a person falls overboard from. a boat or falls ofi from a gang-plank into the water. One of these grapples is at once thrown in that direction, and one of the hooks will instantly seize the clothing of the person in the water, the guard 71 at the end of the spring-fender acting as a barb to prevent the release of the clothing when same is once caught by the hook. The depth of the mortisesfshould be so slight as to permit the guide-pins j toonly enter far enough under the pressure of the piece of clothing on the hook to permit said piece to slip down on the hook below the guard. There may be as many or as few of these hooks and accompanying spring-fenders and guards as desired in any instance; but the number shown will be found convenient in practice.

One great advantage of my device lies in the fact that its action is automatic in that it does not at all depend upon any action or cooperation of the party whose rescue is desired. A life-preserver thrown overboard to a drowning person is useful, provided the said person has sense or strength enough to grasp the same; but if the person has sunk then the preserver is useless, whereas my de vice is of sufficient weight to instantly sink through the water, and thus bring up a person even if the latter is at the bottom of the lake or river (the line being of proper length) where the accident occurs, and as the grapple moves over the body its books will be certain to catch hold of the clothing, and thus bring the person to the surface, as the springfenders will bear against the object touched and being in line with the books will insure proper and quick engagement between one of the said hooks and the clothing on the person.

By reason of making the spring-fenders detachable, as described, any one of them can be readily removed if broken or injured and replaced by a new one without disturbing the remainder of the device, and as the headpiece A is recessed for the reception of the upper ends of said fenders their perfect alinemeut is thereby insured, and hence they will always properly bear against the inner surface of the stationary hooks.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A grapple for rescuing persons in danger of drowning, comprising a head-piece, a stem immovably secured thereto and terminating in an outward and upward projecting hook; a collar fast on the lower part of said stem, and having an edge groove formed therein; and a spring-fender, whose upper end is rigidly secured to said head-piece and whose lower end is branched, one of said branches forming a guard bearing against the inner surface of said hook and the other of said branches forming a guide-pin in engagement with the edge groove in said collar.

2. A grapple comprising a metallic headpiece; a series of hook-stems immovably se' cured to said head-piece, and terminating in outward and upward projecting pointed hooks; an eye projecting above the headpiece; a collar rigidly and immovably secured to the lower portions of said hook-stems, uniting them together, and formed with edge grooves and communicating inward-extending mortises; and a series of spring-fenders, whose upper ends are secured to said headpiece, and whose lower ends are branched, one of said branches of each spring-fender forming a guard bearing against the adjacent hook, and the other of said branches forming a guide-pin in engagement with the adjacent edge groove and mortise in said collar.

3. A grapple comprising a pair of double hook-stems, each pair formed of a strip of steel wire, doubled so as to form parallel stems, terminating in outwardly and upwardly bent lower free ends, projecting away from each other and pointed at the extreme ends, one of said pair of doubled stems having its upper bend expanded out to form an eye, and the other of said pair being arranged at right angles to the first-named pair, and with its upper bend in line with the base of said eye; a metallic head-piece cast about the upper ends of said doubled stems, rigidly securing all parts together; a metallic collar cast about the lower part of said doubled stems, also rigidly securing said parts together, and said collar having a series of edge grooves and communicating inward-extending mortises; and a series of steel springfenders, whose upper ends are rigidly but removably secured to said head-piece, and whose lower ends are branched, one of said branches of each spring-fender forming a guard bearing against the adjacent hook, and the other branch forming a guide-pin for engagement with the adjacent edge groove and mortise in said collar.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Iron Mountain, in the county of Dickinson and State of Michigan, in the presence of two witnesses.

PETER RASMUSSEN.

Witnesses:

E. A. WOODWARD, JOHN RUSSELL. 

